Arsenal under fire as kitchen staff are paid less than the living wage

Arsenal bosses were today accused of using sub-contractors who supply kitchen porters and chefs on less than the London Living Wage while their footballers earn tens of thousands of pounds a week.

Islington councillors claimed the club used companies who pay staff less than £8.80 an hour, the rate regarded from yesterday as the minimum sufficient to live in the capital. Even at the new Living Wage, it would take seven years to earn the £130,000 a week that highest-paid player Mesut Özil reportedly makes.

Among sub-contracters paying less is hospitality group Delaware North Companies — which operates at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium and at Wembley. It was advertising two jobs on its website with pay rates that fall below the recommended figure.

The US-based firm was seeking a lead kitchen porter at £8.25 per hour “inclusive of holiday pay” and chefs with pay starting at £7.76.

Andy Hull, a Labour councillor for Highbury West ward, said: “Staff putting in shifts at the Emirates are doing so on Arsenal’s premises, on Arsenal’s behalf.

So the club shouldn’t abrogate responsibility for what they get paid. After all, if they can afford to pay their players £100,000 a week, surely they can afford to pay their contractors £8.80 an hour?”

Arsenal claims its employee remuneration packages exceed the London Living Wage and that the majority of casual workers are paid above it.

In a letter seen by the Standard from Trevor Saving, Arsenal’s chief operations officer, to campaign group Citizens UK, he said that although he had alerted suppliers and contractors to the London Living Wage campaign, it was “difficult” to influence the wage rates paid by them. A spokesman for the Mayor of London said: “Paying the London Living Wage ensures hard-working Londoners are helped to make ends meet.”